Tweaking Windows Vista – Get more performance fast

Here are a few obvious and not so obvious tweaks you should be doing to your Windows Vista if you are finding performance to be a problem. If you dont want to install 3rd party tweaking utilities or want to just do things manually then follow these suggested tweaks.

Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide tooltips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Use a background image for each folder type
Close the Performance Options & System Properties dialogs.

DEP, otherwise known as NoExecute, is a piece of technology in Windows that prevents processes from being altered in live memory. This lowers the frequency of certain attacks, but it can also have some adverse effects and cause certain things not to run.

Due to the way Windows Vista™’s boot editor has been created, it is now harder to disable DEP / No Execute Protection.

Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, right click on “Command Prompt”, and click “Run as administrator”.
If asked for permission to run Windows Command Processor, click on Allow.
At the command prompt, type in “bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff” (without the quotes).
You should receive a message saying “Operation Completed Successfully”.
Restart the computer, DEP / No Execute should now be disabled.

NOTE: Depending on the version of Windows Vista, you may not have access to step 3. In that case >> Watch my alternative tip <<

1. Click the Start Button
2. From the Start menu, Click All Programs followed by Accessories, then Run
3. In the Run dialogue box type: secpol.msc and then Click OK
4. User Account Control will prompt you for the necessary authorisation. Click Continue button
5. The Local Security Policies window now opens. This window is divided into a Left and Right hand pane
6. In the Left Hand pane look for the Local policies option and Click the > button to expand the list
7. From the expanded list, Click on Security options
8. In the Right hand pane you should see a list of available options (this is rather a long list)
9. Scroll towards the bottom of the list until you come to ‘User account control: behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in admin approval mode’
10. Right Click on this option and Select Properties
11. In the Properties window, Click the drop down menu arrow and, from the available list, Select the ‘Elevate without prompting’ option and then Click OK
12. A warning message will appear in the notification area warning you that UAC has been turned off. This message will appear ever time you boot your PC unless you turn off the option to be notified of security alerts in the Security Center of Control panel
13. Finally, Close the Local security policy Window

1. Click the Start button
2. On the Start menu click Run
3. In the Run dialogue box type ‘control userpasswords2’ (without the quotes) and press OK
4. The User Account properties window will now appear
5. Remove the check mark from the ‘users must enter a user name and password to use this computer’ option
6. Click Apply
7. A new window will now appear
8. In this Window enter the Name and Password you wish to be used to automatically log on to your pc
9. Once you have entered the details click OK to exit the new user name and password dialogue window and then click OK on the User Properties box